Homemade Beef Jerky - Diving into Dehydrating

This document was extracted from "So Easy to Preserve", 5th ed. 2006. Bulletin 989, Cooperative Extension Service, The University of Georgia, Athens. 

 

 

 

Jerky

Partially freeze meat to make slicing easier.  Slice meat no thicker than ¼ inch. 

Trim and discard all fat from meat because it becomes rancid quickly. 

If a chewy jerky is desired, slice with the grain. Slice across the grain if a more tender, brittle jerky is preferred. A tenderizer can be used according to package directions, if desired. The meat can be marinated for flavor and tenderness. Marinade recipes may include oil, salt, spices and acid ingredients such as vinegar, lemon juice, teriyaki, or soy sauce or wine.

Jerky Marinade

• 1 1/2 - 2 pounds of lean meat (beef, pork or venison)
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon each of black pepper and garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon hickory smoke-flavored salt

Combine all ingredients. Place strips of meat in a shallow pan and cover with marinade. Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours or overnight. Products marinated for several hours may be more salty than some people prefer. If you choose to heat the meat prior to drying to decrease the risk of foodborne illness, do so at the end of the marination time. To heat, bring strips and marinade to a boil and boil for 5 minutes before draining and drying. If strips are more than ¼ inch thick, the length of time may need to be increased. If possible, check the temperature of several strips with a metal stem-type thermometer to determine that 160ºF has been reached.

Drying the Meat

Remove meat strips from the marinade and drain on clean, absorbent towels. Arrange strips on dehydrator trays or cake racks placed on baking sheets for oven drying. Place the slices close together, but not touching or overlapping. Place the racks in a dehydrator or oven preheated to 140ºF. Dry until a test piece cracks but does not break when it is bent (10 to 24 hours for samples not heated in marinade). Samples heated in marinade will dry faster. Begin checking samples after 3 hours. Once drying is completed, pat off any beads of oil with clean, absorbent towels and cool. Remove strips from the racks. Cool. Package in glass jars or heavy plastic food storage bags. Vacuum packaging is also a good option.
If the strips were not heated in marinade prior to drying, they can be heated in an oven after drying as an added safety measure. Place strips on a baking sheet, close together, but not touching or overlapping. For strips originally cut 1/4 inch thick or less, heat 10 minutes in an oven preheated to 275ºF. (Thicker strips may require longer heating to reach 160ºF.)

Making Jerky from Ground Meat

Jerky can be made from ground meat using special presses to form or shape the product. Disease-causing microorganisms are more difficult to eliminate in ground meat than in whole meat strips. (If ground meat is used, follow the general tips for safe handling of meat and poultry, above.) Be sure to follow the dehydrator manufacturer’s directions when heating the product at the end of drying time. Again, an internal temperature of 160ºF is necessary to eliminate disease-causing bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7, if present.

Storing the Jerky

Properly dried jerky will keep at room temperature two weeks in a sealed container. For best results, to increase shelf life and maintain best flavor and quality, refrigerate or freeze jerky.

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Almond Brunch Cake

3/4 c sugar
1 butter, room temperature
1 8-oz can almond paste, broken into pieces
3 large eggs
1 T Amaretto
1/2 t almond extract
1/4 t salt
1/3 c cake flour
1/2 t baking powder
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees 

Butter and flour the bottom and up the sides of an 8 or 9-inch spring form pan. 

Using electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat 3/4 cup sugar and butter at medium-high speed until very light and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add almond paste, 1 piece at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in Amaretto, almond extract and salt. 

Whisk together flour and baking powder in small bowl; add to batter. Beat just until blended. Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly.  Bake cake until top is golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool in pan on rack.  Remove sides of pan and dust with powdered sugar and serve.

Salt River Bar

(Saving for future reference as it's almost exactly like my Angel Bars)

 

Salt River Bar

90 Club crackers
1 cup butter, salted
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3/4 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
sea salt for finishing

Prepare a 9 by 13 inch pan by lining it with parchment paper, leaving the two long edges a bit long to remove the bars from the pan later for cutting.

Spray the parchment and sides of the pan with nonstick spray. Cover the bottom of the pan with the first layer of crackers on top of the parchment. Cut the crackers to fit as needed.

In a medium sized heavy bottomed pan, melt butter, brown sugar, graham cracker crumbs, and heavy cream together over medium heat, stirring constantly. Bring the mixture to a boil, continuing to stir, and boil for 7 minutes. Pour half of the caramel mixture over the crackers, spreading it evenly to the edges of the pan. Working quickly, add another layer of crackers over the caramel. Pour the rest of the caramel over the second layer of crackers, and then add a final layer of crackers.

Refrigerate the pan to chill and set the caramel layers while you make the chocolate topping.

To make the chocolate topping, add milk chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and peanut butter to a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30-45 seconds, then stir. Microwave the chocolate in 15 second intervals, stirring in between until smooth. Pour the chocolate topping over the final layer of crackers, spreading it evenly to the edges. Sprinkle sea salt over the chocolate layer to taste.

Chill for 1-2 hours before using a sharp knife to cut into bars.

Nougat

1/4 - 1/3 c butter (a little more than 1/4 but less than 1/3, LOL)
1/2 c xylitol
1/4 c erythritol
1/2 c vanilla whey powder (I use Nature's Best Isopure Zero Carb Creamy Vanilla)
1 c cream cheese
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 t almond extract
10-20 drops liquid sweetener

In  a saucepan melt the butter and add the xylitol, stir until disolved and clear.  Add the erythritol, stir until dissolved then add whey protein.  Cook for about 2 minutes, remove from heat and beat in cream cheese and flavorings.  Let cool.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled.  It should be like playdoh - so you can work it into a shape with your hands. 


In order to make the candy bars;

Salted Nut Candy Bars

1 pkg. sugar free chocolate chips
1 recipe sugar free nougat
1 recipe sugar free caramel (or store purchased)
1 1/2 cups salted peanuts or salted, roasted almonds - chopped briefly in a processor

In a 9 or 10" square pan, place a layer of aluminum foil.  Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave and pour onto the aluminum foil and spread with a rubber spatula.  Place this into the refrigerator while you get the other items ready or just chill until it's set a bit - it doesn't have to be rock hard, just not completely melted.  Add your layer of nougat and spread or press over the chocolate.  Now pour your caramel layer over the nougat and after a brief few minutes in the freezer or refrigerator to let the caramel just set up a tad, sprinkle nuts over the top of all.

Chill until set and cut.  You can make this more of a 'candy bar' by melting another package of chocolate chips and dipping each sliced bar into the chocolate and let stand on parchment or foil until hard.  I don't personally like chocolate very much so I didn't dip ours.

Grilled Pork - Carne Asada Style - and perfect in tortillas with cheese, sour cream and avocado

We've had this marinade from 2013 on various meats TWICE in the past week.  I've made a few different sauces for it, and one daughter loves it with just ranch dressing or green goddess dressing as the sauce.  We simply serve with fresh shredded cabbage, on flour tortillas.  

 

I posted this recipe previously in 2013 using thin sliced steak.  That's what I usually use, but I did it differently this time and loved it - I used a pork roast I had cut from a large pork loin I bought at Sam's Club.   It had a nice layer of fat on the back/bottom so I sliced thin slices of meat, but only 'to' the fat - not through it.  This made a fanned out piece of meat with the slices forming the fan, but attached on the very bottom with the layer of fat.  I placed this in the marinade in a glass dish, flipped it a couple times to get it covered in marinade, then let it set overnight.

The next day I grilled it, and it was really nice to have it fan out to cook; no pieces falling through the grates.  I grilled it on both sides, flipping when needed, until the meat was done through.  I let it set about 10 minutes, then sliced off the fat back (which had blackened nicely from the grill yet protected the meat) and then sliced the meat through to serve on low-carb flour tortillas with cheese and sour cream.

 

 

Here is the recipe as posted in 2013.  I doubled it this time and used amino acids in place of soy sauce and added a jalapeno from the garden that had turned ripe and red hot.
 

 

Carne Asada Marinade

1/2 c soy sauce or amino acids
3 garlic cloves, minced or chopped
1 T vinegar
1 small jalapeno pepper, chopped fine
1/3 c lime juice
1/4 c lemon juice
1/2 t either chipotle seasoning or cayenne
1 T (scant) chili powder, cumin and paprika
3/4 t dried oregano
1/4 c fresh parsley (you can use cilantro)
1/2 c oil (preferably olive oil)
pepper (about 1/2 t) but not salt as the soy sauce is very salty

Place all in a ziploc baggy (double bag) or in a ceramic or glass container, and add about 2 pounds thin steaks or other meat.  Let marinade overnight.  Grill until done, slice across the grain and serve.  I opted to serve with tortillas, salsa, sour cream, cheese, avocados and lettuce.